History CreatorsPet / ProfessionalWrestling

** He eventually entered into a feud which involved several months of getting defeated by Brock Lesnar. WWE played up Lesnar's frequent absences from TV and seeming apathy toward wrestling as an attempt to weaponize this trope, get X-Pac Heat on Lesnar, and cause the fans to be more sympathetic toward Reigns--but instead what happened is that fans got a feud where ''both'' parties had X-Pac Heat. Reigns came off looking like a whiny SoreLoser when he went around calling himself "the uncrowned Universal Champion" even though Lesnar beat him clean the first time they met, and it didn't help Reigns' perception of being a CreatorsPet when he was granted an immediate rematch despite, as mentioned earlier, losing fair and square.

** If it is anything to go by, the pop he got from announcing his return to wrestling in February 2019 indicates that he's well and truly shook off the X-Pac Heat, but it remains to be seen if WWE can actually keep Reigns over or if he'll go right back to his old booking and become hated again--considering how they screwed up his booking when he first escaped this status, it's a real possibility.

** He eventually entered into a feud which involved several months of getting defeated by Brock Lesnar. He had few other matches (except for house shows) alongside this, due to Lesnar rarely appearing. While he is still viewed as an example of this trope, due to main-eventing PPVs, he doesn't always win often.

** If it is anything to go by, the pop he got from announcing his return to wrestling in February 2019 indicates that he's well and truly shook off the X-Pac heat, but it remains to be seen if WWE can actually keep Reigns over or if he'll go right back to his old booking and become hated again--considering how they screwed up his booking when he first escaped this status, it's a real possibility.

** Then he fell again as a color commentator for the Smackdown brand in 2016 following the recently-revived Brand Split. Fans immediately noticed that his commentary was even more excruciating than his wrestling, and after almost a year he was removed from commentary and went back to being off television.

* Dixie Carter of TNA became outright hated by most in the Professional Wrestling fandom in 2011(and already was by peers in the business itself, including longtime fan favorite Wrestling/JimCornette), but TNA continues to shill her even if she's not on an episode, attempting to entice fans to follow her on Twitter and Facebook at LEAST once a week. Dixie is the president of TNA and the majority shareholder in the company. Ironically, many fans rejoiced when Wrestling/HulkHogan briefly took over the company in an angle that ran nearly a year and a half. Sadly, she was backed by Wrestling/{{Sting}}, and is once again in control of the company in the angles as well as in real life, though the day to day operations of TNA in-universe were handled by Sting, then by Wrestling/{{M|ontelVontaviousPorter}}VP, then by Wrestling/KurtAngle. Still she managed to get ever worse as she's inserted herself into making the show all about her. If she's not in a segment she's being mentioned or talked about. She opens nearly every show with a thirty minute long promo. Even after TNA moved to Destination America, she still eventually returned, to the displeasure of many fans.

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Throughout her career, Charlotte was constantly given title opportunities and rarely needed to win a number one contender match first and in the last three months of 2018, she had four [=SmackDown=] Women's Championship matches. In fact, in almost all the pay-per-views Charlotte was in, she was either the defending champion or the challenger. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut, holding it for six months, and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title was even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte was drafted to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion, making her the only woman to hold all titles exclusive to the women's division (except the original Women's Championship). Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title a few days later to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). This victory also has her breaking Trish's record for most PPV victories by a woman. Her instant return to the title picture was the moment when a majority of the fans turned against her as it very nearly derailed [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was widely expected to win back the championship) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans were firmly behind Becky when she turned on Charlotte, so much so that WWE had to pull a hasty rewrite on the storyline and portray it as BothSidesHaveAPoint instead of Becky being the pure heel and Charlotte being the face as they had originally intended. Despite dropping the title to Becky, she is still heavily focused to the point of replacing Becky Lynch to face Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series, a match that had been anticipated since Ronda's debut, after Becky suffered a legitimate nose injury, despite Asuka receiving louder cheers. Vince [=McMahon=]'s favoritism towards Charlotte becomes more apparent in 2019, when he suspends Becky (who had won the Royal Rumble in January) for 60 days and replaced her with Charlotte as Ronda Rousey's opponent at [=WrestleMania=].

* David Otunga is a mix between this and RealLifeWritesThePlot. Pushed to the moon on NXT despite being sub par on the mic and being very green and downright dangerous in the ring, Otunga got second place in the first season and arguably more focus on him in the closing minutes than there was [[Wrestling/WadeBarrett the winner]]; virtually all because of his engagement to Jennifer Hudson. It did not help that WWE bent over backwards to have him win contests along the way, in one case with them outright coming up with a lame excuse to disqualify someone who did beat him in a contest to sell programs for no reason but to ensure an Otunga victory.
** Lampshaded on the season 1 finale of NXT as it was mentioned that the reason why he lasted this long was because of said engagement.
** WWE seems to have gotten the message after Wrestling/TheNexus formed. Wrestling/WadeBarrett has flourished in the role as the Nexus' leader, and many of the other NXT rookies have benefited considerably from the angle, including Justin Gabriel, [[Wrestling/{{Ryback}} Skip Sheffield]], and even Michael Tarver (widely considered the worst of the original eight). David Otunga, however, has seemed lost in the shuffle, and hasn't really been given much to say or do.
*** Otunga is sliding into the role of TheStarscream whose sole characterization seems to be a slimy opportunist looking to usurp Barrett as Nexus' leader. It fits.
*** Thankfully, as of a year later, they did seem to at least realize that Otunga has the wrestling ability of a graham cracker and don't let him do it that often. He did join Wrestling/CMPunk's New Nexus, but he didn't really talk much during this period. The few times he did wrestle, it was usually either with a partner who did a fair share of the work or against somebody who could barely fight back, or in some cases, they'd find excuses to not have him in the match (such as him being scheduled to wrestle Wrestling/{{Sheamus}}, but Sheamus was destroyed before their match by Wrestling/MarkHenry). As of now, he's largely not wrestling and has taken on the role of Wrestling/JohnLaurinaitis' stooge lawyer (and bow tie aficionado). Unfortunately, Otunga still got a bit of a push in 2012. He's beat Ezekiel "Put-The-Great-Khali-In-The-Torture-Rack-And-Made-Him-Tap" Jackson with a spine buster. Twice. Fortunately, Otunga being used in a non-wrestling role seems to have redeemed him in the eyes of many fans.
*** After being off TV for more than a year, Otunga returned as a color commentator for the Smackdown brand in 2016 following the recently-revived Brand Split. Fans immediately noticed that his commentary was even more excruciating than his wrestling, and after almost a year he was removed from commentary and went back to being off television.

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut, holding it for six months, and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title was even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte was drafted to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion, making her the only woman to hold all titles exclusive to the women's division (except the original Women's Championship). Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title a few days later to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). This victory also has her breaking Trish's record for most PPV victories by a woman. Her instant return to the title picture was the moment when a majority of the fans turned against her as it very nearly derailed [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was widely expected to win back the championship) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans were firmly behind Becky when she turned on Charlotte, so much so that WWE had to pull a hasty rewrite on the storyline and portray it as BothSidesHaveAPoint instead of Becky being the pure heel and Charlotte being the face as they had originally intended. Despite dropping the title to Becky, she is still heavily focused to the point of replacing Becky Lynch to face Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series, a match that had been anticipated since Ronda's debut, after Becky suffered a legitimate nose injury, despite Asuka receiving louder cheers.

* Wrestling/NiaJax was unfavorably compared to some of the worse [[WrestlingMonster giants]] mentioned on this page from TheNineties, but despite the NXT crowd unilaterally rejecting her she was fast-tracked to the main roster thanks to her family ties to Wrestling/DwayneJohnson. On the main roster, she showed exactly why she wasn't ready, frequently botching. For a time in early 2018, Jax shook off the criticism and became a minor [[EnsembleDarkHorse]] but it faded away once she won her first women's championship. The storylines she was put in severely damaged her character, as she seemed to turn on a whim (going back and forth from a WrestlingMonster to a helpless bullying victim back to a WrestlingMonster within the months of March to May, for instance). Her XPacHeat came to a head in late 2018, where during a brawl to close an episode of Raw, she legitimately punched Wrestling/BeckyLynch in the face, causing Lynch to be sidelined with a concussion and depriving Wrestling/SurvivorSeries of the anticipated match between Lynch and Creator/RondaRousey. Despite fan outcry and evidence the attack may have not been accidental, she didn't receive any punishment from the company and it was even used to further her push as a monster heel.

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title was even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte was drafted to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion. Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title the following week to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). This victory also has her breaking Trish's record for most PPV victories by a woman. Her instant return to the title picture was the moment when a majority of the fans turned against her as it very nearly derailed [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was widely expected to win back the championship) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans were firmly behind Becky when she turned on Charlotte, so much so that WWE had to pull a hasty rewrite on the storyline and portray it as BothSidesHaveAPoint instead of Becky being the pure heel and Charlotte being the face as they had originally intended. Despite dropping the title to Becky, she is still heavily focused to the point of replacing Becky Lynch to face Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series, a match that had been anticipated since Ronda's debut, after Becky suffered a legitimate nose injury, despite Asuka receiving louder cheers.

* Wrestling/JohnCena over the course of his WWE title feuds with Wrestling/ChrisJericho and Wrestling/KurtAngle in 2005, where he came to be booed so often he had to acknowledge (while on air) that the fans didn't like him on several occasions. Like Beaver Cleavage, most of the hate is aimed at the creator more than the pet; a lot of people would tolerate John Cena, half the crowd likes him, but WWE doesn't understand [[HypeBacklash they'd rather see less of him and more of someone else]], if only for a little while.

* Wrestling/RomanReigns might actually be one of the biggest examples in the industry's history. He started off popular, as the strong, silent, no-nonsense muscle guy in Wrestling/TheShield, mainly because their dynamic was all around great and it covered Reigns' weaknesses both in and out of the ring. Once the Shield broke up, Reigns was essentially exposed as being very limited in the ring and as a mediocre talker. The fact that Wrestling/{{Daniel Bryan}} became one of the best and most popular guys in recent memory at around the same time, and WWE insisted on pushing Reigns over him, ended up coming to a head at the 2015 Royal Rumble, where Bryan was eliminated less than halfway into the match and Reigns ended up winning over several other more talented and popular guys, which led to the audience booing Reigns out of the building, to the point that ''Wrestling/TheRock'' got booed when he came out to help him against a sneak attack. The fans were so displeased they ''rioted'' outside the arena, and so many cancelled their WWE Network subscriptions that [[DemandOverload the cancellation page crashed.]] Since that night, Reigns has gotten some of the worst reactions on the roster, but Vince [=McMahon=] has already decided that Reigns ''will'' be the next face of the company regardless. Things only got worse as WWE had an endless array of popular acts, including the fan-favorite Daniel Bryan, shill and promote Reigns as being a great hero and amazing talent, and Reigns' push would only keep getting stronger. He main evented ''Wrestlemanias 31'', ''32'', ''33'', '''and''' ''34'', won the title at ''32'', and at ''33'', WWE even went so far as to have Reigns be the one to temporarily '''retire The Undertaker,''' one of the most legendary figures in the industry's history. The best thing that can be said in Roman Reigns' defense at this point is most fans, even many of his detractors, feel the problem isn't Reigns himself, since he actually has steadily improved in the ring, [[HypeBacklash it's the awful booking and the constant shilling]]. It's widely considered among fans and other wrestlers alike that all Reigns really needs is a couple years in the upper midcard to polish his in-ring work and find his own voice and he'll be able to become the top draw that Vince is convinced he already is. However, some more-pessimistic people have argued that, after the ''nuclear'' levels of hatred he got for retiring Undertaker, Roman is [[NeverLiveItDown past the point that his career can EVER fully recover]].

** Not so with Wrestling/RandyOrton. Despite both his father and his grandfather being famous wrestlers, Randy has long since outstripped either of them in worldwide popularity, and rightly so. In fact, when "Cowboy" Bob Orton returned to WWE in 2005, it looked like ''he'' was trying to ride his son's coattails rather than the other way around. He's also the only one in his family (also including uncle Barry, aka Barry O or the Zodiac in the Hart family's Stampede Wrestling promotion) to ever win a title in WWE. Of course, Orton has never been without his detractors, claiming that the only reason he still even has a job, let alone his eternal push, is because of both his lineage and his status as HHH's pet project.

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title was even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte was drafted to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion. Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title the following week to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). Her instant return to the title picture was the moment when a majority of the fans turned against her as it very nearly derailed [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was widely expected to win back the championship) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans were firmly behind Becky when she turned on Charlotte, so much so that WWE had to pull a hasty rewrite on the storyline and portray it as BothSidesHaveAPoint instead of Becky being the pure heel and Charlotte being the face as they had originally intended. Despite dropping the title to Becky, she is still heavily focused to the point of replacing Becky Lynch to face Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series, a match that had been anticipated since Ronda's debut, after Becky suffered a legitimate nose injury, despite Asuka receiving louder cheers.

*** After being off TV for more than a year, Otunga returned as a color commentator for the Raw brand in 2016 following the recently-revived Brand Split. Fans immediately noticed that his commentary was even more excruciating than his wrestling, and after a couple months he was removed from commentary and went back to being off television.

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title was even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte was drafted to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion. Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title the following week to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). Her instant return to the title picture was the moment when a majority of the fans turned against her as it nearly burned all of [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was widely expected to win back the championship) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans were firmly behind Becky when she turned on Charlotte, so much so that WWE had to pull a hasty rewrite on the storyline and portray it as BothSidesHaveAPoint instead of Becky being the pure heel and Charlotte being the face as they had originally intended. Despite dropping the title to Becky, she is still heavily focused to the point of replacing Becky Lynch to face Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series, a match that had been anticipated since Ronda's debut, after Becky suffered a legitimate nose injury, despite Asuka receiving louder cheers.

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title was even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte was drafted to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion. Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title the following week to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). Her instant return to the title picture was the moment when a majority of the fans turned against her as it burned all of [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was widely expected to win back the championship) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans were firmly behind Becky when she turned on Charlotte, so much so that WWE had to pull a hasty rewrite on the storyline and portray it as BothSidesHaveAPoint instead of Becky being the pure heel and Charlotte being the face as they had originally intended. Despite dropping the title to Becky, she is still heavily focused to the point of replacing Becky Lynch to face Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series, a match that had been anticipated since Ronda's debut, after Becky suffers a legitimate nose injury, despite Asuka receiving louder cheers.

* Wrestling/NiaJax was unfavorably compared to some of the worse [[WrestlingMonster giants]] mentioned on this page from TheNineties, but despite the NXT crowd unilaterally rejecting her she was fast-tracked to the main roster thanks to her family ties to Wrestling/DwayneJohnson. On the main roster, she showed exactly why she wasn't ready, frequently botching. The storylines she was put in didn't help, as she seemed to change character on a whim (going back and forth from a WrestlingMonster to a helpless bullying victim back to a WrestlingMonster, for instance). Despite this, she ended up winning the Women's Championship to tepid reactions from crowds. Her XPacHeat came to a head in late 2018, where during a brawl to close an episode of Raw, she legitimately punched Wrestling/BeckyLynch in the face, causing Lynch to be sidelined with a concussion and depriving Wrestling/SurvivorSeries of the anticipated match between Lynch and Creator/RondaRousey. Despite fan outcry and evidence the attack may have not been accidental, she didn't receive any punishment from the company and it was even used to further her push as a monster heel.

* Wrestling/JinderMahal in mid-2017. After ''[=WrestleMania=] 33'', Mahal was moved to ''[=SmackDown=]'' during the Superstar Shake-up between the brands, upon which he [[FromNobodyToNightmare suddenly upset then-WWE Champion Randy Orton at Backlash in May to obtain the belt]], which he held onto for ''nearly six months'' despite being average at best in the ring and shifting his character to a tired [[ForeignWrestlingHeel foreign heel]] straight out of TheEighties who couldn't even beat lowercard stars without interference from The Singh Brothers. His reign caused WWE's TV ratings and ticket sales to plummet even further than they already were. It didn't help that he regularly scored victories over beloved wrestlers such as Wrestling/SamiZayn and Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura, almost halting their pushes in the process. The main reasons for Jinder's push were because WWE wanted to appeal to the Indian market (where the WWE Network had recently launched, and were stated to go on tour after Backlash) and likely because Jinder had buffed up considerably since his first run (which many suspect is due to steroid use). The reveal that Vince [=McMahon=] was personally writing a lot of Mahal's promos and material received unfavorable comparison with Roman Reigns, making a lot of fans perceive Mahal as being an overpushed pet project of Vince's, once again being forced down the throats of fans.

* Wrestling/NiaJax was unfavorably compared to some of the worse [[WrestlingMonster giants]] mentioned on this page from TheNineties, but despite the NXT crowd unilaterally rejecting her she was fast-tracked to the main roster thanks to her family ties to Wrestling/DwayneJohnson. On the main roster, she showed exactly why she wasn't ready, frequently botching. The storylines she was put in didn't help, as she seemed to change character on a whim (going back and forth from a WrestlingMonster to a helpless bullying victim back to a WrestlingMonster, for instance). Despite this, she ended up winning the Women's Championship to tepid reactions from crowds. Her XPacHeat came to a head in late 2018, where during a brawl to close an episode of Raw, she legitimately punched Wrestling/BeckyLynch in the face, causing Lynch to be sidelined with a concussion and depriving Wrestling/SurvivorSeries of the anticipated match between Lynch and Wrestling/RondaRousey. Despite fan outcry and evidence the attack may have not been accidental, she didn't receive any punishment from the company and it was even used to further her push as a monster heel.

* Wrestling/LexLuger's "Made in the USA" [[TheGimmick gimmick]] in the WWF was pretty much the definition of the Creator's Pet in wrestling. He was pushed to the top after Wrestling/HulkHogan finally "left for good" (well, for 8+ years, anyway), plugged directly into Wrestling/HulkHogan's feud with Wrestling/{{Yokozuna}}, and given a hugely over-the-top AllAmericanFace gimmick, in hopes to get him massively over. It completely failed on every level possible; the casual fans saw Luger as a poor imitation of the departed Hogan, and the [[SmartMark smarks]] detested Luger's lack of mobility and failure to grasp even basic WrestlingPsychology, to the extent that body slamming the 640 pound Yokozuna still didn't get him over. Tellingly, after he got a title match with Yokozuna, with the stipulation that it would be Luger's only shot at the championship, then won the match by count-out (meaning the title didn't change hands), the fan reaction was less "clamoring for a rematch" and more "[[WhatAnIdiot the idiot blew his one shot]]". To make matters worse, most fans liked (well, in a "{{love to hate}}" kind of way) the [[SmallNameBigEgo Narcissist]] gimmick he was using before the HeelFaceTurn.

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title was even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte was drafted to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion. Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title the following week to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). Her instant return to the title picture was the moment when a majority of the fans turned against her as it burned all of [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was widely expected to win back the championship) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans were firmly behind Becky when she turned on Charlotte, so much so that WWE had to pull a hasty rewrite on the storyline and portray it as BothSidesHaveAPoint instead of Becky being the pure heel and Charlotte being the face as they had originally intended. Despite dropping the title to Becky, she is still heavily focused to the point of replacing Becky Lynch to face Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series, a match that had been anticipated since Ronda's debut, after Becky suffers a legitimate nose injury, despite Asuka receiving louder cheers.

* Wrestling/AshleyMassaro started her wrestling career right on television with a good deal of popularity among fans. After a year or so, though, she had been exposed as wrestler who was all show and no go, greatly surpassed in popularity by Wrestling/MickieJames and Wrestling/{{Melina}} Perez. So she was moved to a different "brand" than they were and was pushed as its top female baby {{face}} over Wrestling/JillianHall, a wrestler of comparable talent to James and Perez who continually proved she could do everything Massaro did, be it dance, valet for Wrestling/LondonAndKendrick, cut promos, show off her body or most importantly wrestle just as well or much better than Massaro. Massaro continued to be booked on pay per view and for promotional music videos, acting spots and magazines shoos outside of pro wrestling as she continued to stink up the ring and her fan base slowly dwindled away. Once she was no longer on television, Massaro gained a reputation for no showing events on the independent circuit and gradually faded away. However, at the few independent shows she did manage to make it to, she managed to win a few fans back over. Just enough to spark debates on what her career would have been like had she been properly trained.

* The unfortunate story of Wrestling/ProWrestlingNOAH. It was a breakaway from Wrestling/{{All Japan|ProWrestling}} and fans came to see [[JustHereForGodzilla the familiar wrestlers]]. Newer wrestlers like Namoichi Marifuji, Takeshi Morishima and Wrestling/{{KENTA|Kobayashi}} were tolerated on the under card but when the [[Wrestling/KentaKobashi Kobashis]], Akiyamas, Takayamas, Taues and the like started to fall to injury, sickness or age, attempts to move the newer wresters up the card did not succeed, with the fans outright turning on many they regarded [[YouAreNotReady promising but highly flawed]]. Wrestling/MitsuharuMisawa, one of the few 90s AJPW stars still going strong even though he really [[DentedIron should have taken a break]], ''literally'' [[CasualtyInTheRing worked himself to death]] in 2009 [[PassingTheTorch trying to]] get Go Shiozaki over.

* WWECW had a semi decent roster, believe it or not, but less attention was paid to "extremists" like CW Anderson or Wrestling/{{Psicosis}} or even any of the "vixens" like [[Wrestling/CarleneMoore Jazz]] and Trinity as was paid to Wrestling/KellyKelly, an exhibitionist whose first televised appearance was a RatingsStunt where she promised to take off all her clothing before a cut to a commercial break and then failed to follow through. Still, Kelly didn't truly reach this status until she was given her own dancing trio known as "[[Wrestling/{{Layla}} The]] Extreme [[Wrestling/BrookeAdams Expose]]", who were so heavily booed the house mics were silenced during their segments. WWE kept trying with Kelly, putting her in various roles before settling on wrestler, which she failed to grasp some basic fundamentals of but was still decent at, [[BaseBreakingCharacter getting some audible pops]] after two years and [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap getting over]] after five...only to then campaign for her own release and disappear from the industry.
* It's one thing to keep using a man when your fans say they don't want anymore of him. It's another when the news media portrays your company as [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity a laughingstock due to you associating with him]], his own NFL franchise puts a restraining order against your use of him and you respond by not only continuing to use him, but having your baby{{face}}s talk about [[CharacterShilling how great he is]] and give him one half of the tag team titles, as TNA did with Adam "Pacman" Jones. Despite his first "run" doing nothing for the company they actually brought him in a second time.

* David Otunga is a mix between this and RealLifeWritesThePlot. Pushed to the moon on NXT despite being sub par on the mic and being very green and downright dangerous in the ring, Otunga got second place in the first season and arguably more focus on him in the closing minutes than there was the winner; virtually all because of his engagement to Jennifer Hudson. It did not help that WWE bent over backwards to have him win contests along the way, in one case with them outright coming up with a lame excuse to disqualify someone who did beat him in a contest to sell programs for no reason but to ensure an Otunga victory.

*** Thankfully, as of a year later, they did seem to at least realize that Otunga has the wrestling ability of a graham cracker and don't let him do it that often. He did join Wrestling/CMPunk's New Nexus, but he didn't really talk much during this period. The few times he did wrestle, it was usually either with a partner who did a fair share of the work or against somebody who could barely fight back, or in some cases, they'd find excuses to not have him in the match (such as him being scheduled to wrestle Wrestling/{{Sheamus}}, but Sheamus was destroyed before their match by Wrestling/MarkHenry). As of now, he's largely not wrestling and has taken on the role of Wrestling/JohnLaurinaitis' stooge lawyer (and bow tie aficionado).
*** Unfortunately, Otunga got a bit of a push in 2012. He's already beaten Ezekiel "Put-The-Great-Khali-In-The-Torture-Rack-And-Made-Him-Tap" Jackson with a spine buster. Twice. Fortunately, Otunga being used in a non-wrestling role seems to have redeemed him in the eyes of many fans.
* Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} ''began'' as this in 2009 on the InNameOnly ECW, where his back-and-forth feud with ''Wrestling/{{Goldust}}'' (yes [[GorgeousGeorge that]] Goldust) where he actually ''lost'' at least one match and wrestled to a draw in another was [[CanonDiscontinuity instantly turned into a winning streak]] as well as being seen as a monster heel just for retiring [[DeepSouth good ol' boy Jamie Noble]] and curbstomping Jerry Lawler. Fast forward to being on Raw where, despite his size and power, he is a DirtyCoward heel that got lucky in his two championship wins rather than brutalizing fellow pets Wrestling/JohnCena and Wrestling/RandyOrton who always had bigger fish to fry. He managed to avoid this after his HeelFaceTurn where he started to get good reactions from fans, save for about four weeks after ''[=WrestleMania=]'' where the crowd turned on him [[ShootTheMessenger for the way he won the title off Daniel Bryan]].

* Mike Bennett and Matt Taven, the first and second winners of Wrestling/RingOfHonor's recurring "Top Prospect" Tournament, who both continued to be pushed by the promotion after fans made it clear they ''strongly'' disagreed with the notion either was a top anything, even greeting Bennett with chants of "You Can't Wrestle". ''Then'' the two were given their own PowerStable in The Kingdom. Even pairing them with EnsembleDarkhorse Adam Cole and Bennett's RealLife spouse Wrestling/MariaKanellis could not stop them from getting hate. Oddly, Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling fans [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff seem to like them well enough]].

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title was even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte was drafted to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion. Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title the following week to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). Her instant return to the title picture was the moment when a majority of the fans turned against her as it burned all of [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was widely expected to win back the championship) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans were firmly behind Becky when she turned on Charlotte, so much so that WWE had to pull a hasty rewrite on the storyline and portray it as BothSidesHaveAPoint instead of Becky being the pure heel and Charlotte being the face as they had originally intended.

** In October 2018, Reigns finally got over in the worst way possible when he revealed he was suffering from Leukemia and would have to step away from the business. He went from being booed out of the building to "thank you, Roman" chants. Commentators note if he is able to come back from his disease, the pops will be through the roof.

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title was even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte was drafted to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion. Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title the following week to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). Her instant return to the title picture was the moment when a majority of the fans turned against her as it burned all of [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was widely expected to win back the championship) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans were firmly behind Becky when she turned on Charlotte.

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title is even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte moved to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion. Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title the following week to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). Her instant return to the title picture was the last straw among fans as it burned all of [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was DemotedToExtra after losing her title) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans are behind Becky when she turned heel and attacked Charlotte after the match.

* Wrestling/EvaMarie, a woman that WWE seem desperate and determined to make a star. The only problem is that according to fans she has very little talent--she can't wrestle, she can't talk, she can't act, and she can't even sell, meaning she wouldn't even make a good {{jobber}}. Even when WWE finally put her down in NXT to learn with the most talented women they have, Eva was, at best, a female version of Bo Dallas, and at worst, a talentless HateSink. The fact that WWE still used Eva Marie for promotional material for their main roster shows and [=PPVs=] when she was in NXT puts her dangerously close to WolverinePublicity as well. After returning to the main roster following the second Brand Extension, she seems to have found something that suits her, being repackaged as a MarySue heel who comes up with excuses to avoid wrestling and while this has [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap rescued her from the scrappy heap]] in the eyes of some fans, this type of gimmick won't work long-term and unless she becomes the female Wrestling/KurtAngle overnight, she's doomed to remain this. (un)fortunately, she's no longer this as she disappeared from TV in 2016 to sit out the rest of her contract, when she was finally let go in August of 2017.

* Wrestling/JinderMahal in mid-2017. After ''[=WrestleMania=] 33'', Mahal was moved to ''[=SmackDown=]'' during the Superstar Shake-up between the brands, upon which he [[FromNobodyToNightmare suddenly upset then-WWE Champion Randy Orton at Backlash in May to obtain the belt]], which he held onto for ''nearly six months'' despite being average at best in the ring and shifting his character to a by-the-book [[ForeignWrestlingHeel foreign heel]] straight out of TheEighties who couldn't even beat lowercard stars without interference from The Singh Brothers. His reign caused WWE's TV ratings and ticket sales to plummet even further than they already were. It didn't help that he regularly scored victories over beloved wrestlers such as Wrestling/SamiZayn and Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura, almost halting their pushes in the process. The main reasons for Jinder's push were because WWE wanted to appeal to the Indian market (where the WWE Network had recently launched, and were stated to go on tour after Backlash) and likely because Jinder had buffed up considerably since his first run (which many suspect is due to steroid use). The reveal that Vince [=McMahon=] was personally writing a lot of Mahal's promos and material received unfavorable comparison with Roman Reigns, making a lot of fans perceive Mahal as being an overpushed pet project of Vince's, once again being forced down the throats of fans.

* Wrestling/AshleyMassaro started her wrestling career right on television with a good deal of popularity among fans. After a year or so, though, she had been exposed as wrestler who was all show and no go, greatly surpassed in popularity by Wrestling/MickieJames and Wrestling/{{Melina}} Perez. So she was moved to a different "brand" than they were and was pushed as its top female baby {{face}} over Wrestling/JillianHall, a wrestler of comparable talent to James and Perez who continually proved she could do everything Massaro did, be it dance, valet for Wrestling/LondonAndKendrick, cut promos, show off her body or most importantly wrestle just as well or much better than Massaro. Massaro continued to be booked on pay per view and for promotional music videos, acting spots and magazines shoos outside of pro wrestling as she continued to stink up the ring and her fan base slowly dwindled away. Once she was no longer on television, Massaro gained a reputation for no showing events on the independent circuit and gradually faded away. However, at the few independent shows she did manage to make it to, she managed to win a few fans back over. Just enough [[BaseBreaker to spark debates]] on what her career would have been like had she been properly trained.

* Wrestling/CharlotteFlair had been compared by fans as the DistaffCounterpart to Roman Reigns despite her talents. Following her debut to the main roster in 2015 (coincidentally the year Roman was heavily pushed in), Charlotte was immediately pushed to be the top female superstar in the company, winning the Divas Championship 3 months after her debut and when the title was dropped in favor of the new Women's Championship, she immediately claimed the title as well. Along with an undefeated streak in PPV, she went the whole 2016 as a champion, occasionally dropping the title to Sasha Banks before reclaiming it a few weeks later, killing any potential Banks had and becoming a four time Raw Women's Champion before the title is even a year old. After ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIII'', Charlotte moved to [=SmackDown=] and her momentum seem to have died down but by the end of the year, she won the [=SmackDown=] Women's Champion. Her presence in fact kills off any momentum for other women on the roster despite [=SmackDown=] is being known as "the land of opportunity". She then went on to end [[Wrestling/KanakoUrai Asuka's]] undefeated streak at ''[=WrestleMania=] XXXIV''. After losing her title the following week to Wrestling/{{Carmella}}, Charlotte took some time off for breast implant surgery before returning in July and reclaiming the title from Carmella in Summerslam 2018, tying with Wrestling/TrishStratus for most WWE Women's Championships held on the main roster (Trish took 6 years to do so while Charlotte only took 3). Her instant return to the title picture was the last straw among fans as it burned all of [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch Becky Lynch's]] (a long time fan favorite who was DemotedToExtra after losing her title) momentum over the last 2 months. In fact, the fans are behind Becky when she turned heel and chanted "You deserved it" to Charlotte when Becky attacked her.

* Wrestling/JinderMahal in mid-2017. After ''[=WrestleMania=] 33'', Mahal was moved to ''[=SmackDown=]'' during the Superstar Shake-up between the brands, upon which he [[FromNobodyToNightmare suddenly upset then-WWE Champion Randy Orton at Backlash in May to obtain the belt]], which he held onto for ''nearly six months'' despite being average at best in the ring and shifting his character to a by-the-book [[ForeignWrestlingHeel foreign heel]] straight out of TheEighties who couldn't even beat lowercard stars without interference from The Singh Brothers. His reign caused WWE's TV ratings and ticket sales to plummet even further than they already were. It didn't help that he regularly scored victories over beloved wrestlers such as Wrestling/SamiZayn and Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura, almost halting their pushes in the process. The main reasons for Jinder's push were because WWE wanted to appeal to the Indian market (where the WWE Network had recently launched, and were stated to go on tour after Backlash) and likely because Jinder had buffed up considerably since his first run (which many suspect is due to steroid use). The reveal that Vince [=McMahon=] was personally writing a lot of Mahal's promos and material received unfavorable comparison with Roman Reigns, making a lot of fans perceive Mahal as being an overpushed pet project of Vince's, once again being forced down the throats of fans.

* Wrestling/JinderMahal in mid-2017. After ''[=WrestleMania=] 33'', Mahal was moved to ''[=SmackDown=]'' during the Superstar Shake-up between the brands, upon which he [[FromNobodyToNightmare suddenly upset then-WWE Champion Randy Orton at Backlash in May to obtain the belt]], which he held onto for ''nearly six months'' despite being average at best in the ring and shifting his character to a by-the-book [[ForeignWrestlingHeel foreign heel]] straight out of TheEighties who couldn't even beat lowercard stars without interference from The Singh Brothers. His reign caused WWE's TV ratings and ticket sales to plummet even further than they already were. It didn't help that he regularly scored victories over beloved wrestlers such as Wrestling/SamiZayn and Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura, almost halting their pushes in the process. The main reasons for Jinder's push were because WWE wanted to appeal to the Indian market (where the WWE Network had recently launched, and were stated to go on tour after Backlash) and likely because Jinder had buffed up considerably since his first run (which many suspect is due to steroid use). The reveal that Vince [=McMahon=] was personally writing a lot of Mahal's promos and material received unfavorable comparison with Roman Reigns, making a lot of fans perceive Mahal as being an overpushed pet project of Vince's, once again being forced down the throats of fans.
* Wrestling/{{Sable}}, at least according to Wrestling/JimCornette. She was neither a good speaker nor a good wrestler (with no desire to improve), treated the other women like dirt, killed her (then) husband Marc Mero's career, and only wanted use her position in the company get into Playboy. She was only pushed because [=McMahon=] and Russo were enamored with her, at the expense of much more talented and dedicated women on the roster.

* Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio is yet another example. Despite not able to connect with the audience, Del Rio has been pushed to the moon since his August 2010 debut and won the Royal Rumble match in 2011. He has constantly has title shot after title shot. Originally, he was one of the most hated heels on the roster, but after two terrible WWE title reigns and a heatless feud with Sheamus, all of his heat evaporated. When he turned face in the end of 2012, his push was relaxed, but once he went back to being a heel six months later, WWE went back to pushing him full-force. The reason behind Del Rio's huge push is because WWE sees him as a guy who can help carry WWE to a Hispanic fanbase, not to mention he is one of Triple H's favorites.

* Wrestling/RomanReigns might actually be one of the biggest examples in the industry's history. He started off popular, as the strong, silent, no-nonsense muscle guy in Wrestling/TheShield, mainly because their dynamic was all around great and it covered Reigns' weaknesses both in and out of the ring. Once the Shield broke up, Reigns was essentially exposed as being very limited in the ring and as a mediocre talker. The fact that Wrestling/{{Daniel Bryan}} became one of the best and most popular guys in recent memory at around the same time, and WWE insisted on pushing Reigns over him, ended up coming to a head at the 2015 Royal Rumble, where Bryan was eliminated less than halfway into the match and Reigns ended up winning over several other more talented and popular guys, which led to the audience booing Reigns out of the building, to the point that ''Wrestling/TheRock'' got booed when he came out to help him against a sneak attack. The fans were so displeased they ''rioted'' outside the arena, and so many cancelled their WWE Network subscriptions that [[DemandOverload the cancellation page crashed.]] Since that night, Reigns has gotten some of the worst reactions on the roster, but Vince [=McMahon=] has already decided that Reigns ''will'' be the next face of the company regardless. Things only got worse as WWE had an endless array of popular acts, including the fan-favorite Daniel Bryan, shill and promote Reigns as being a great hero and amazing talent, and Reigns' push would only keep getting stronger. He main evented ''Wrestlemanias 31'', ''32'', ''33'', '''and''' ''34'', won the title at ''32'', and at ''33'', WWE even went so far as to have Reigns be the one to '''retire The Undertaker,''' one of the most legendary figures in the industry's history. The best thing that can be said in Roman Reigns' defense at this point is most fans, even many of his detractors, feel the problem isn't Reigns himself, since he actually has steadily improved in the ring, [[HypeBacklash it's the awful booking and the constant shilling]]. It's widely considered among fans and other wrestlers alike that all Reigns really needs is a couple years in the upper midcard to polish his in-ring work and find his own voice and he'll be able to become the top draw that Vince is convinced he already is. However, some more-pessimistic people have argued that, after the ''nuclear'' levels of hatred he got for retiring Undertaker, Roman is [[NeverLiveItDown past the point that his career can EVER fully recover]].

* Wrestling/EvaMarie, a woman that WWE seem desperate and determined to make a star. The only problem is that she has very little talent--she can't wrestle, she can't talk, she can't act, and she can't even sell, meaning she wouldn't even make a good {{jobber}}. Even when WWE finally put her down in NXT to learn with the most talented women they have, Eva was, at best, a female version of Bo Dallas, and at worst, a talentless HateSink. The fact that WWE still used Eva Marie for promotional material for their main roster shows and [=PPVs=] when she was in NXT puts her dangerously close to WolverinePublicity as well. After returning to the main roster following the second Brand Extension, she seems to have found something that suits her, being repackaged as a MarySue heel who comes up with excuses to avoid wrestling and while this has [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap rescued her from the scrappy heap]] in the eyes of some fans, this type of gimmick won't work long-term and unless she becomes the female Wrestling/KurtAngle overnight, she's doomed to remain this. (un)fortunately, she's no longer this as she disappeared from TV in 2016 to sit out the rest of her contract, when she was finally let go in August of 2017.
* Wrestling/JohnBradshawLayfield is a recent example. JBL has been getting some heat from fans due to the recent bullying accusations against him and are demanding that WWE take action. However, don't expect JBL to be fired anytime soon due to his extremely close friendship with Vince [=McMahon=]. He was however, eventually removed from commentary and mostly does backstage work now.

* Wrestling/RomanReigns might actually be one of the biggest examples in the industry's history. He started off popular, as the strong, silent, no-nonsense muscle guy in Wrestling/TheShield, mainly because their dynamic was all around great and it covered Reigns' weaknesses both in and out of the ring. Once the Shield broke up, Reigns was essentially exposed as being very limited in the ring and as a mediocre talker. The fact that Wrestling/{{Daniel Bryan}} became one of the best and most popular guys in recent memory at around the same time, and WWE insisted on pushing Reigns over him, ended up coming to a head at the 2015 Royal Rumble, where Bryan was eliminated less than halfway into the match and Reigns ended up winning over several other more talented and popular guys, which led to the audience booing Reigns out of the building, to the point that ''Wrestling/TheRock'' got booed when he came out to help him against a sneak attack. The fans were so displeased they ''rioted'' outside the arena, and so many cancelled their WWE Network subscriptions that [[DemandOverload the cancellation page crashed.]] Since that night, Reigns has gotten some of the worst reactions on the roster, but Vince [=McMahon=] has already decided that Reigns ''will'' be the next face of the company regardless. Things only got worse as WWE had an endless array of popular acts, including the fan-favorite Daniel Bryan, shill and promote Reigns as being a great hero and amazing talent, and Reigns' push would only keep getting stronger. He main evented ''Wrestlemanias 31'', ''32'', and ''33'', won the title at ''32'' and at ''33'', WWE even went so far as to have Reigns be the one to '''retire The Undertaker,''' one of the most legendary figures in the industry's history. The best thing that can be said in Roman Reigns' defense at this point is most fans, even many of his detractors, feel the problem isn't Reigns himself, since he actually has steadily improved in the ring, [[HypeBacklash it's the awful booking and the constant shilling]]. It's widely considered among fans and other wrestlers alike that all Reigns really needs is a couple years in the upper midcard to polish his in-ring work and find his own voice and he'll be able to become the top draw that Vince is convinced he already is. However, some more-pessimistic people have argued that, after the ''nuclear'' levels of hatred he got for retiring Undertaker, Roman is [[NeverLiveItDown past the point that his career can EVER fully recover]].

* Wrestling/JinderMahal in mid-2017. After ''[=WrestleMania=] 33'', Mahal was moved to ''[=SmackDown=]'' during the Superstar Shake-up between the brands, upon which he [[FromNobodyToNightmare suddenly upset then-WWE Champion Randy Orton at Backlash in May to obtain the belt]], which he held onto for ''nearly six months'' despite being average at best in the ring and shifting his character to a by-the-book [[ForeignWrestlingHeel foreign heel]] straight out of TheEighties who couldn't even beat lowercard stars without interference from The Singh Brothers. His reign caused WWE's TV ratings and ticket sales to plummet even further than they already were. It didn't help that he regularly scored victories over beloved wrestlers such as Wrestling/SamiZayn and Wrestling/ShinsukeNakamura, almost halting their pushes in the process. The main reasons for Jinder's push were because WWE wanted to appeal to the Indian market (where the WWE Network had recently launched, and were stated to go on tour after Backlash) and likely because Jinder had buffed up considerably since his first run (which many suspect is due to steroid use). The reveal that Vince [=McMahon=] was personally writing a lot of Mahal's promos and material received unfavorable comparison with Roman Reigns, making a lot of fans perceive Mahal as being an overpushed pet project of Vince's, once again being forced down the throats of fans.